RIVERSIDE >> Citing the lack of progress in the last four months, a judge has given Ontario and Los Angeles more time to gather evidence in their dispute over control of L.A./Ontario International Airport.

The hearing shed light on the latest developments of the case: 30 attorneys sifting through 350,000 electronic documents. But Trask, who was concerned about the mountains of documents being produced by a team of Los Angeles’ attorneys, said she didn’t want the case to languish and urged both parties to start thinking about taking the case to the courtroom.

“I want you to start thinking of a trial date,” Trask asked the attorneys for both cities. “I think this case is of some urgency. I will give you a trial date as soon as possible, and I will accommodate you as soon as possible.”

Ontario filed a lawsuit in June 2013 against the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports and agency of that city that operates ONT, Los Angeles International Airport and Van Nuys Airport. The suit aims to rescind or reform the terms of a 1967 agreement that gave control of the Ontario airport to L.A.

“I don’t want this case to go on forever while Ontario airport just goes down the tubes,” said Andre Cronthall, attorney representing Ontario.

Steve Rosenthal, the attorney representing L.A., said he believes the statute of limitations for the agreement has expired.

“We will ultimately be moving for a ruling from the court, for the types of damages that are being asserted by Ontario are not cognizable as damage,” he said. “The city of Ontario can’t sue for the downturn in the economy in the Inland Empire.

In May, Ontario filed a motion requesting the court pressure L.A. to provide information it requested on the case dating back to last year.

Rosenthal agreed to turn over information requested by Ontario, involving 100,000 documents, in the next month.

“I don’t think an order is necessary. More important than an order is his credibility,” Trask said, referring to Rosenthal.

To date, L.A. has provided Ontario with 12,000 hard copies of documents. It is now reviewing electronic documents to respond to additional requests by Ontario.

Up until Monday, Rosenthal said, there were 30 attorneys working 12 hours a day, poring through those documents, checking for attorney-client privilege as well as relevance to the request. About 8,500 hours has gone into the search, he added.

“We expended in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in just electronic disclosure,” Rosenthal said.

He expected to produce 40,000 more documents as part of the electronic search, by today.

Trask asked that both sides not just inundate each other with documents that are irrelevant or redundant.

“With regard to the city’s production, I’m so frightened, 30 attorneys working 12 hours a day,” Trask said. “How does that translate to a court hearing?”

In a cross motion, L.A. claims it made several inquiries to Ontario asking it prove how LAWA has caused any damage to the city.

After hearing from Rosenthal, Trask asked that Ontario provide more information detailing how the alleged mismanagement of the facility has resulted in $540 million in economic loss to the region and the loss of 10,000 jobs.

“We will provide that data but further we will put more meat and bones of the damage allegations as much as we can,” Cronthall said.

In a cross motion also filed last month, L.A. claimed it had made several inquiries to Ontario asking it prove how LAWA has caused any damage to the city.

After hearing from Rosenthal, Trask asked that Ontario provide more information detailing how the mismanagement of the facility has resulted in $540 million economic loss to the region and the loss of 10,000 jobs.

Cronthall, who has five other attorneys working for Ontario, said he will work to produce information in the next 20 days.

“We will provide that data but further we will put more meat and bones of the damage allegations as much as we can. We just served some responses to further such as the damage to Ontario the lack of revenue affected the tax base, the result reduction of tax revenues in the city. It’s clear this is going to be the matter of in depth economic expert work and testimony,” Cronthall said.

The period to gather evidence was scheduled to end on June 30.

Trask asked that both sides meet and decide on a deadline for gathering evidence but also on a trial date. She also asked that both sides start thinking about experts they want to bring in for the trial and what issues it wants a jury to address and what issues are for a court to decide.

“I can see this being bigger than the state of California,” the judge said. “I don’t want this case to go on forever.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.